The shockwaves that HBO Max sent through the industry following last week’s big announcement that all of Warner Bros’ 2021 features would be heading to WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer streaming service the same day they’re scheduled for theaters, continue to be felt. But one of the weirder wrinkles to their upcoming approach seems to have been glossed over almost completely. In a recent CNBC report on the behind-the-scenes WarnerMedia shenanigans, they have been quietly pushing for ads on the platform, something that goes against the entire model of HBO’s premium pay cable format. The controversy continues.
According to the CNBC report, this is high on WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey’s to-do list. Pointing to the testimony of several former executives “point to Stankey's push to add advertising to HBO Max, slated for the second quarter of 2021, as potentially ruinous, according to people familiar with the plans.” That’s right – you might be able to watch The Suicide Squad on your couch when it’s slated to debut next summer, but it also might be interrupted by commercials for Cologuard and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Talk about a devil’s bargain.
This isn’t the first time the idea of ads on HBO Max have been floated. Back in September (shortly after the platform’s launch) a report ran in Variety about how WarnerMedia was thinking about introducing an ad-supported version of HBO Max, to further muddy the waters of a rollout that had customers utterly baffled by the differences between HBO, HBO Go, and HBO Max (HBO Go no longer exists). In that report, HBO was gunning for four minutes of commercials per hour of streaming content which doesn’t sound like a lot except for the fact that you’re paying (either directly or through extravagant pay cable charges) for the privilege of an ad-free experience. The addition of ads could mean a revolt from consumers; and HBO Max’s numbers aren’t exactly staggering to begin with.
According to the surveys in September, while HBO Max would keep commercials out of newer television series and movies (please, do not sully The Flight Attendant with your Tik Tok commercials), the proposal “suggests ads could surface alongside content from WarnerMedia’s other TV networks; in original series that launch on HBO Max only; and in older films, which currently include classics shown commercial-free on the company’s Turner Classic Movies cable network.”
Based on the CNBC report, though, it seems Stankey has become more bullish about ads in HBO Max. And it really wouldn’t surprise us if, prior to watching Dune, we were forced to (at the very least) sit through a prolonged advertisement for Delta Airlines. Or maybe Old Spice would be more appropriate for that one.